In a lawsuit that could have nationwide implications for ballot-box access for tribes across the United States, Native Americans from Montana are pushing for early voting precincts to be placed closer to the locations of three tribal reservations - the Crow, Northern Cheyenne, and Fort Belknap reservations.

Native American tribes in the United States have taken the lead in opposing the expansion of the Athabasca Tar Sands in Alberta, Canada, engaging in civil disobedience to the point of arrest and attempting to physically block shipments of construction equipment from passing through their native lands.

Indigenous rights groups are applauding U.S. President Barack Obama's creation of a new high-level council aimed at coordinating government actions relating to Native American communities, a move that advocates have been urging since early in the president's first term.

After 17 years in litigation, the U.S. government has announced that hundreds of thousands of Native Americans will soon be receiving payments from what has been described as the United States’ largest class-action lawsuit, which accused the government of massive mismanagement of trusts covering indigenous peoples’ monies and lands.

A top United Nations official has presented the first ever international investigation into the situation of indigenous peoples in the United States, urging the adoption of new policies and mechanisms to “address persistent deep-seeded problems related to historical wrongs, failed policies of the past and continuing systemic barriers”.